Improved rail for street-railways



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE M. SCHLEIER, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

IMPROVED RAIL FOR STREET-RAILWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45,525, dated December 20, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, THEoDoEE M. SoHLEIEIt, of Nashville, in the county of Davidson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawin gs, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a perspective view of my invention; Fig. 2, a plan or top view of a portion of a rail ofthe same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

This invention relates toa new and useful improvement in what are generally termed street railroads g and it consistsin construct ing the rails with indentations in their edges, so as to form a series of short inclined planes at both sides ot' each rail to enable the wheels of common vehicles to release themselves from the track or pass over the rails when approaching them obliquely. Great difficulty is now experienced in getting the wheels ot common vehicles `over the rails when presented obliquely to them, and when the wheels are inside of the rails they are frequently materially injured and strained in crossing the latter in consequence ot' the barrier the rails present to them, a difficulty which is fully obviated by my invention.

The rails A may be of the usual or any proper form, and they are provided at each side with indentations, so as to form inclined planes a, against which the wheels of a vehicle may catch and pass upon the surface of the rails. These inclined planes a have an oblique position with a transverse section of the rails, and the other side, b, of the indentations are comparatively long, so as to extend gradually inward from the outer surfaces of the rails to the inner ends of the inclined planes c. These indentations are made in the edges of the rails in reverse positions consecutively, the alternate indentations when lookin g over the rails in either direction coinciding with each other in position. By this means the wheels of a vehicle will be assisted over the rails when moving in either direction.

In Fig. 1 one of the back wheels ot a vehicle is represented as passing` up an inclined plane, a, from the inside ot' the rail.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- The constructing ot' rails for railroads with oblique angular notches presented in opposite directions, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

THEODORE M. SCHLEIER.

Witnesses H. H. TIIoMAs, FRANCIS C. STERNBERG. 

